Annual shipments of cellular IoT antennas are forecasted to have a CAGR of 14.9 percent to reach 1.2bn by 2028, according to Berg Insight.

The figure includes internal and external antennas and is up from 598 million units in 2023.

Even though an antenna is a conceptually basic passive component, there are many challenges associated with the implementation of antennas. The complexity of RF design requires a deep understanding of electromagnetic principles, signal integrity and the intricacies of PCB design.

Major smartphone OEMs have teams of hundreds of engineers that design custom antennas for their devices. In contrast, cellular IoT device makers typically do not have the resources or scale to design antennas in-house and rely on specialised antenna vendors that provide off-the-shelf antennas, as well as custom antenna design services.

Cellular IoT antennas can be broadly divided into internal and external antennas. There are a range of antenna types to choose from when deciding on what kind of antenna to use. The most important factors to consider are size, cost and performance.

The ideal antenna has a small form factor, low cost and excellent performance. This is, however, not possible in the real world and trade-offs must be made, meaning there is generally no one-size-fits-all antenna.

The cellular IoT antenna market is served by a multitude of players of different sizes, with diverse portfolio strategies and varying degrees of specialisation when it comes to antennas.

An important category is the major diversified electronic component manufacturers such as TE Connectivity, Kyocera and Amphenol. Taoglas is one of the leading pure-play IoT antenna vendors in North America and Europe. Sunnyway Technologies is the market leader in China and is active across all the main antenna segments. Other key antenna providers that are active in more than one segment are DiscoverIE (operating through the brands 2J Antennas and Antenova), Pulse Electronics and Quectel. Antenna providers that primarily focus on the internal antenna segment include Ignion, Abracon, Ezurio, Unictron and Walsin Technology.

The external antenna market is fragmented, with few vendors having a presence in more than one region. Berg ranks Panorama Antennas, Parsec Technologies and PCTel (acquired by Amphenol in December 2023) as the market leaders. Other major external antenna providers include Amphenol Procom, Poynting Antennas, Huber+Suhner and Airgain.

The report brochure can be downloaded at media.berginsight.com/2024/07/31001631/bi-iotantenna1-ps.pdf.